Parents, officials push for a new Wheaton High

(Left) An exposed electrical outlet sits in an open space under a water fountain in the hallway of Wheaton High School. Parents and school officials say the 55-year-old school is deteriorating and cannot last much longer without being rebuilt.

Amid proposed job cuts and million-dollar budget shortfalls in the county's school system, Wheaton High School parents and officials of are asking Montgomery County Public Schools to remember their need for a new school.

Wheaton High School is overdue for modernization and has been pushed back too many times, said Grace Barnes, the cluster coordinator for schools that feed into Wheaton.

"Our conditions are embarrassing in a county that's supposed to have a lot of resources available," Barnes said.

Parents and school officials want the 55-year-old school to be rebuilt as brand new, but MCPS officials say the size and scope of the modernization will depend on a feasibility study, which is scheduled in the 2010 budget for Wheaton. No funds have been allocated for the project.

Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for MCPS, said officials have to weigh whether it is more cost effective to build a new school, or rebuild or renovate portions of a school.

Wheaton High School was scheduled in the fiscal 2009 budget to be modernized by 2014 but the completion date was pushed back to 2016 due to financial constraints, according to the 2010 MCPS capital budget.

Crumbling concrete stairs, eroded tile, roof leaks, poor plumbing and broken heaters are some of the main complaints Barnes, staff and parents say they have about the school.

Wheaton High School is the oldest of the high schools in the Downcounty Consortium and last had a renovation in 1983. John F. Kennedy High School was renovated in 1999, Northwood High School in 2004, Albert Einstein High School in 1997 and Montgomery Blair High School opened in 1998, according to the 2010 capital budget.

Barnes, parents and Principal Kevin Lowndes are worried Wheaton High School won't be able to compete for students in the feeder middle schools with other, newer schools in the Downcounty Consortium if it isn't rebuilt soon.

"No way would you pick Wheaton," said parent Kristen Dean, whose daughter is a third-generation student at Wheaton.

Lowndes said he can't hope for a new building anytime soon given the school system's budget constraints — Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has proposed cutting 276 jobs to save $35 million for the 2010 operating budget, which is separate from the capital budget. The objective is to make sure Wheaton's project isn't pushed back yet again, he said.

"We want to make sure that when the money comes in and we start building projects that we're in line," Lowndes said.

The priority of school modernization projects is based on a comprehensive assessment funded by the county.

Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda is currently being renovated. Next on the list is a modernization at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, followed by Gaithersburg High School and then Wheaton, said Joe Lavorgna, the director of the Department of Facilities Management for MCPS.

Fully modernizing a high school costs about $100 million, Lavorgna said. Although a school may be scheduled in the budget's six-year plan, it may not be funded yet, he said.

County's Board of Education President Shirley Brandman (At large) of Bethesda said the board has to be realistic about using the funds it has.

Smaller projects, such as fixing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system in schools, may be more manageable right now than "big ticket" items, Brandman said. County schools are also being challenged with growing populations and an increased number of students needing free or reduced meals, Brandman said.

"It's about stretching the resources we have," she said, adding the board is "struggling … to figure out how to marshal" those.